Pat Mail....Let The CRAZINESS Begin..

SNAIL MAIL AT ITS BEST

HELLO, RVA!

Everyone needs a crazy, wacky sister like mine.  Oh, and to top it off, she is my identical TWIN  sister.  Of course that doesn't make me crazy or wacky....ha! This summer she came for a visit, taking the Amtrak down to my neck of the woods...Richmond , VA.  When she came to town, I had already planned each and every day with something she hadn't already done in the Richmond and surrounding areas.  We had a blast...and she was so sweet to send me a thank you card(s) with her very cool graphic art and watercolor.

Are you ready?  Dare to open?  I did.

First, THANKS!!  For what?

Our first trip was downtown Richmond for an electric bike tour of historic Church Hill.  We had a great tour guide and it was absolutely fantastic,  everyone needs to check out their local e-bike tours!

One day was spent at the Jefferson for high tea!  You can read all about it here:High Tea At The Jefferson  .  You will have to google why the alligator is in the picture.  It figures into the history of the Jefferson Hotel.

And then the obligatory family time!  And that is no small feat getting 10 children, 4 spouses,  and 11 (now 12) grand kids all together! And just so you know, no babies were injured or harmed in the "baby lift" competitions.  Brandon of course, rocked it!

We had so much fun researching the type of coconut (4 layer originally) cake that my grandmother used to make --circa 1920's?.  We had narrowed it down to about 8 different recipes online, and finally think that we found THE ONE!  Here is the recipe we settled on: Grandma's Coconut Cake.   It was amazing....and so much fun to make with Pat.  Thanks, Pat, for taking over the grating of the coconut!

Ah, then the interesting trip to Petersburg Virginia.  Petersburg has a fantastic  Civil War history and the city is amazing to visit...but be warned!  Since the town has suffered almost total bankruptcy this past year , the tourism industry has been completely annihilated!  First stop to the Visitor Center?  Closed!  Museums?  Closed!  The historic area is like a ghost town!  One saving grace was our luncheon at the Dixie Restaurant!  Great small  town vibes, super friendly service, and we were told ahead of time about the heavenly "Spoon Bread" which was literally "to die for!"  Great place, I highly recommend.   Then it was on to the national battlefield to see the "Battle of the Crater"...my young uns that we took were not really impressed.  I think you have to be an adult to appreciate this interesting bit of history.  But, there too, the museum was CLOSED!  Ugh, arrrrgh!

Richmond, Virginia is home to one of the only two, URBAN  level 5 white water rafting in the country!  So off we went to try our hand at it!  Ha, ha, the pictures are ACCURATE!  We lost Pat and my son Benji on the first rapid into the water!  We had to go into rescue mode immediately! Thankfully we all made it through the rapids without loss of limb or life!  It was an experience of a lifetime.  

Hi Lydia!  We had some swim time in the river which was great on the sweltering day we happened to be on the James River.

Such fun mail!  Thank YOU Pat for keeping the memories alive, even more so than the photos that we took.  What a great week, with this mail I will  always look back with a smile.

I hope you have enjoyed this travelog , maybe you can go out and explore your own city too.

Happy Snail Mailing,

Pam

*Available In My Shop*

Pen Pal Letter Set Kit

Snail Mail in the NEXT GENERATION!

We can teach them...

And they can teach us a thing or two!

I have received some mail lately from some of my campers that were in my cabin.  I love to post what they have been up to in their very crafty styles.    Here is an envelope crafted by Ella, and I love that she used her wax seal that she got for her birthday!  

Lovely Ella!

And just like a seasoned snail mailer, she included a nice chatty letter and some goodies.

This letter is from Miss Grace!  She made a lovely watercolor impressionistic  sunset...I love this!

Grace attended my paper crafting class at camp, She included a craft that I taught this summer..."Flying Letters".  I need to do a blog post on these...they are adorable!

Here it is , gently unfolded.  But look!  She included a mini envelope  (which she made) inside the  one of the folds.  Nice touch, very nice--Grace!

So cute... a little letter is enclosed.  

I am so impressed at the creativity of young people today.  I have letters going out to Ella and Grace.  I am so sorry it took me so long to get back to writing  to everyone.  Thanks for your patience!

Let's get the younger generation writing and sending letters too,

Pam

Mish Mash of EVERYTHING Snail Mail!

 Sister Mail, Lords and Ladies, Philately, Watercolor boo- boos, and a Camper friend!

Here are a few of my outgoing of lately.  The Map Envelope is on its way to the Netherlands to a Lord and Lady couple; the Watercolor is Sister mail; and the kawaii Hello Kitty is to a trusty pen pal.

These beauties came from Global Pen Pal.  She is an antique hound, so she keeps an eye out for vintage postage.    I love that I had need seen one of them...the Lacemaking USA stamp.  

A recent outgoing to Global PenPal couldn't just have a Forever stamp.  I had a red and blue color scheme going on this envelope, so I looked for some cool blue stamps.  I think they fit the bill!

When you have a  collage going on with your envelope, don't forget to put a little extra postage, or in this case , I also put the envelope in a clear cello bag envelope, then I placed the stamps on the cello bag so they could be cancelled.

This arrived from Amelia.  Doesn't she have some nice art work  on this envelope?  She also included a quill feather.  She is a entrepreneur...and quite young.  She has an  Etsy Store and is such a "go-getter",  wonderfully talented and hard working.

I love the stamp...one of the new florals that are out.  I think it looks like it BELONGS there.

See the glaring mistakes?  Why did I feel the need to outline the rock?  Haha.  Ok, this picture is going to stay on the small scale...not extra large.  

Some more watercolor, with some really atrocious errors (notice the thumb placement?  I'm covering a big mistake there), but it was my first attempt at this study.  My oldest daughter and her family just recently moved to a very rural area with a lovely stream.  I tried to capture that as best I could.  In reality it is a much more shaded, darker area than I have depicted  here.  I sent it, mistakes and all to my sister, who will soon be here on a visit.  My sister and I have started a water color exchange project.  She has wanted to experiment with watercolors and I have too, so it makes a nice challenge. 

** See below comments.  If you mail a letter portrait instead of  landscape you would need to add extra postage.  I forgot to do this as you can see, but thankfully, the letter made it just fine.  I did send out a previous water color envelope (portrait) that was held up at the post office until the receiver went and paid the extra postage.  Talk about embarrassment!

Isn't this charming?  I love the vibrant colors and peaceful scene.  Thanks, sis!

Happy Snail Mailing!

Pam

Nurse Mail

Put it on your calendar....

I have been busy around here.  Ask my husband.  Ask my kids.  I have been locking myself up in my room, and well....writing letters!  I have fallen behind on mail....and the crazy thing is, I don't know how it happened!   But I am almost caught up!  (relief!)  Moral to this story, don't get behind.  It makes one miserable to do so.

But did you know that National Nurse Week was May 6-12?  Of course I have a natural interest in this as I am a RN.  And I believe that Mrs. Murphy Of Mrs. Murphy's Mailbox Magic (one of the blogs I follow) is a nurse as well.  So I guess we can all give ourselves a pat on the back.    But this letter below went to a niece of mine.

This envelope (very flimsy one, not sturdy enough to receive the water colors) was inspired by some vintage stamps....don't you love the 4 cent stamp?  I love all of them.  Nurses today do not have a "capping" ceremony...I'm pretty sure  that my class was one of the last.  In fact...I think that only the OLD nurses still wore caps when I first received my cap.  But my fellow nursing students  and I couldn't WAIT to plop our caps on with a million pins and head to our clinical rotations.  Ha, ha.  I think mine got tangled up in an IV line on the first day.  Well, no matter what nurses ware today, they are special in my book.  Thank you for all you do!

Happy Snail Mailing,

Pam

The Nurse ;-)

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Have Mail, Will Travel!

Mail Art On The GO!

I received this most delightful package from my twin sister for my birthday some time back.  Of course it was immediately LOVED.

Have you ever used an aqua brush?  I had not.  But I quickly discovered it's amazing feature of its "portability".  It TRAVELS well!  You see, the shaft screws on and off and hold the water.  This eliminates the need for a bowl of water to clean your brush so all you really need it a bit of paper towel.   I took this set of brushes with me to camp in the mountains this summer, it also went with me on a trip to  the Potomac River.  I now include them in my portable writing box along with a baggie of paint tubes.  

Here was the Thank You postcard I mailed to her.  What did I send her for her birthday?  Agggrrrrrhhhhhh!  I still haven't sent her anything.  UGH!!!  She totally stumps me.  I just don't know WHAT to get her, any ideas?

The Craftier the better!
Happy Snailmailing,

Pam

Watermelon Mail!

Snail mail Themes

Did you know that August 3rd was National Watermelon Day?  We eat LOTS of watermelon around here...so yummy!  Its the quintessential summer food, right?   I found out about this national day of celebration a bit late, but decided to get some Watermelon mail sent out anyway!   So out came my watercolors and envelopes!  I ended up making 2 envelopes and one postcard.  Fun...yummy delicious mail!

I like to use graph paper to write my letters .  Have you ever tried thought of that?  It gives your letter a nice , loose, casual fee.    Decorate with washi tape and doodles with your jelly markers.  Haha...how do I possibly NOT have any watermelon washi tape?  Impossible, but true! This letter is going to a new pen pal in the state of Oregon.  So Beth...be on the look out!  ;-)

Write Letters,

Write Often!

Lady Pamela

Camp Mail...and Art Journaling

Don't Forget To Send Mail  To Your Campers!

This one was sent to Matthew...he is actually a counselor this year!  He is leading the Archery and Air Rifle  activities for little boys.  I had to keep this one sort of "manly"  LOL!

This one went out to my daughter who was a camper for the first time at this particular camp...

Back side!

Did I mention that I have been to camp already this summer?  I spent two weeks for the teen weeks at Bethel Bible Campgrounds.  It is nestled or rather perched on the top of a mountain in the Blue Ridge!  Lovely, lovely place.  I decided to take my Bible journal with me...and my water colors. I had never tried to do any water colors in my Leuchtturm 1917 but decided to take it  along with me and try it out.

I have a fascination for colorful clothes lines!  This is a scene of the cabin I stayed in to the left and a storage building  to the right.  That is our cabin's clothesline.

The swing in front of the lodge...and the tether ball set.

My home for two weeks.

This was my first water color.  It is not finished and I am least pleased with this one...but it still depicts the lodge, with the ARC behind it and the  metal bell that rings for meals...and other activities.  As a beginner, you learn by doing.  Don't  be afraid to try!  You'll make discoveries along the way that will  aid you in a future  projects.  I know I learned  so much by just getting out there and trying.  

Anyway, I was pleased with how well the Leuchtturm 1917 handled my water color experiment.  I will be returning to camp in two weeks for my final week at camp....and capturing a few more scenes around the camp.  Don't forget to send YOUR camper some mail.  This could mean the world to them!  

Write Letters.

Write Often.

Lady Pamela